Your friendly neighborhood NIMBYs — the acronym for not-in-my-backyard — might seem a bit unreasonable when they're shouting down developers during community meetings. That's not your imagination — they are being unreasonable.

NIMBYism, for good reason, has become synonymous with neighborhoods' efforts to oppose density, particularly by waging war against apartment complexes and new businesses that might want to stay open later than 7 p.m.

During my two-plus years in Indianapolis, I've seen plenty of NIMBY activism, including one neighborhood meeting at which opposition to an apartment development devolved into people complaining that future renters might want to walk their dogs outside. That development did not get built.

Beneath the NIMBY's absurd arguments, though, is a rational person with a well-meaning desire to improve and maintain his or her neighborhood. We should look for ways to channel that energy.

A study underway by Washington, D.C., economist Donovan Rypkema offers some insight into what that might look like. Rypkema is taking a deep dive into Indianapolis historic districts and analyzing how they compare economically to other parts of the city.

Rypkema and his firm, PlaceEconomics, have found that homeowners in the city's historic districts are better protected than people in other neighborhoods during recession and see greater spikes in property value when the economy is growing.

The foreclosure rate in Indianapolis historic districts, for instance, was 11.1 percent between 2008 and 2012 compared to 25.5 percent in the city as a whole, according to Rypkema's analysis. Rypkema found that Indianapolis, a city with thousands of vacant homes, has just 58 abandoned properties in historic districts.

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Historic neighborhoods, such as Irvington, have seen property values rise faster than the city as a whole.(Photo: Beth Murphy/The Star)

Indianapolis has 13 local historic districts — Fletcher Place, the Old Northside, and Woodruff Place are a few examples — in which the economic benefits are strongest. Local historic districts impose regulations on property owners. Indianapolis also has five conservation districts, which have property guidelines, but looser enforcement, and 19 National Register of Historic Places districts, a largely ceremonial designation.

As of 2015, the average home value in the 13 local historic districts was approaching $80 per square foot compared to the mid-$50s for homes in neighborhoods without a historic designation.

"In every single historic district, the change in value between 2003 and 2015 is greater than the change in value in the city as a whole," Rypkema said. "They're economically outperforming the rest of the city. It's a market phenomenon — people are choosing to live there."

This, of course, can create problems if property values in desirable neighborhoods are rising faster than incomes. That's one of the reasons I recently wrote that Indianapolis neighborhoods are not ready for the city to win the sweepstakes for Amazon's next headquarters, which could bring tens of thousands of new people to town.

Those people would have to live somewhere. The NIMBYism I've witnessed in Indianapolis' best neighborhoods suggests people might not want to usher in the type of density that it would take to accommodate such growth.

But Rypkema's analysis points to a solution: Establish more historic districts and improve more neighborhoods.

In other words, foster a sense of NIMBYism in areas that still have plenty of room for growth. Some might call that gentrification, but Rypkema disagrees.

"The issue of gentrification is not too much historic preservation. It's too little," Rypkema said. "In historic neighborhoods, in older neighborhoods, there will be a wide range of housing sizes and quality and condition and owner sophistication. When you have a wide range of alternatives, you have a wide range of humanity that can pick among those alternatives."

The concept of a historic district can provoke fear that homeowners will be giving up their freedom overnight. That's not exactly how it works.

Marsh Davis, the president of Indiana Landmarks, a nonprofit organization focused on historic preservation, said the transition to a historic district usually begins with homeowners joining together and starting a neighborhood association.

Neighborhood groups that decide to go a step further have many options, said Tina Connor, the executive vice president of Indiana Landmarks.

"We usually start with the National Register, which has no controls at all," Connor said. "A lot of lower-income neighborhoods are thrilled to be able to say, 'My neighborhood is listed in the National Register.' So it's a slow progression."

Whatever restrictions eventually emerge are self-imposed.

"The regulations for each neighborhood are different and based in large measure on the people who live there and what they want," Connor said. "So, paint color is not regulated in Herron-Morton. In Lockerbie, you can't dig up a shrub and plant a new one. They wanted very strict regulation."

Indiana Landmarks commissioned Rypkema's research to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Indianapolis Historic Preservation Commission, which reviews proposals to ensure they fit into historic districts' design and zoning standards. His findings suggests there is untapped potential for more urban neighborhoods to not only improve, but also to become part of the city's solution for affordable housing.

"In new subdivisions built in Indianapolis today, the (price) range from the most expensive to the least expensive might be 15 percent, whereas in lots of historic neighborhoods the range from the most expensive to least expensive is 1,000 percent," Rypkema said. "It builds in the opportunity for economic integration."

That doesn't mean militant NIMBYs in thriving neighborhoods are necessarily right to fend off density. But the sensibilities of the NIMBY — to preserve the best qualities and character of a neighborhood — could spur growth in places that already have buildings waiting to be occupied.

Call IndyStar business columnist James Briggs at (317) 444-6307. Follow him on Twitter: @JamesEBriggs.